Krista BennettJan 14, 2023

If I could second one single thing I've read today, it's the message in this link (my own experience follows, to avoid confusion):

https://akademienl.social/@mvugt/109687645135998213

My life fell apart for unusual family reasons my first year of graduate school. And I went to my fellowship advisor early on, basically to tell her that I couldn't function, hoping that I could work together with my professors or the university to salvage what I had left.

Her advice was more or less to tell me to "deal with it", and my predictable struggles afterwards were met with such a lack of empathy that instead of learning to integrate the challenge, I fell apart as a human being.

I left the field for 5 years because of it.

It didn't have to be that way - I went back years later, at another elite institution, and was just fine in better circumstances.

But academia needs to move away from gatekeeping to make those who've made it feel worthy and towards empathy and humanity, especially in the sciences.

Empathy and rigour are *not* mutually exclusive.

Marieke van Vugt (@[email protected])

"A lot of academic leaders show very low levels of emotional self-awareness. If we want to improve research culture, then one way to do so is to develop the leadership skills of senior managers." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00063-8

AkademieNL
Show threadKorinne M Jackman

@kristamonster I'm so sorry that was Marieke's experience. Years ago, I had a similar experience at a well-known (for basketball) university. I ended up withdrawing the day before I would have graduated.

This past semester, what was to be my last in my Master's program, I contracted covid twice, had an unrelated infection, and came down with a vertigo-causing virus. My dean and professors treated me with respect, kindness, and empathy. I'm finishing my thesis with no penalty and retaking my last class, again with no penalty to my GPA.

The contrast between the two schools is stark, but I believe the difference is in the core mission of each school. Note, the core mission isn't always the publicly stated mission.

A school that is student-centered is going to see the person trying to better themselves and their lives. That school works for the students.

The opposite is a school who uses the resources of the students to build its brand and its coffers. The students work for the institution. And, the popularity of the school is such that applications increase each year (especially if the team is winning), even if the quality of the education doesn't (and is sometimes mediocre in comparison to other schools, which attendees have no way of knowing).

It's my hope that the pandemic forced changes in academia as it has in other industries. I know there will be hold-outs (there always are), but I'm hearing about changes from friends who are professors at both public and private universities. Maybe there's hope.

Jan 14, 2023 at 1:56pmWeb
Show threadKrista BennettJan 14, 2023

@krinnyj That wasn't her experience, it was mine - I was referring to the article she posted about the need for changes in how academic programs are managed.

But I do hope there will be change. I've since left academia, but my experience was at a Big 10 school with similar issues to what you describe - its "excellent reputation" was probably the worst thing about it. They were obsessed both with maintaining it, and thought it made all of the things that were broken irrelevant.

I got a much better education during my undergraduate years at my state's urban institution by *far*

Show threadKrista BennettJan 14, 2023
@krinnyj I'm so sorry you had that experience - withdrawing in the last semester must have been horrific. And I hope you're feeling better - that's a lot to go through.